


No Present Like The Time

by BlaiddDrwg1982



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek, Can’t tag much without giving away the plot, Future Fic, Just trust the author and read to the end, M/M, Magic!Stiles, Sometimes People Die, pretty please?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:21:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22150990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlaiddDrwg1982/pseuds/BlaiddDrwg1982
Summary: The pounding at the door was growing in intensity, while the merciless taunts lost their clarity. If you’d have asked a week prior, Stiles never would have said that he could hear the sneer in someone’s voice without some kind of clear words behind it, but here we were. Looking around the space kitchen for whatever ingredients he could put together, the look of grim determination faltered just slightly. Taking a deep breath, he looked over at Derek who was almost too shell shocked to register what was truly happening.“Derek. If we don’t find something for this spell, we’re going to be horrifically screwed.”Moving, Stiles got into his face, clapping his hands an inch from the tip of his nose.“HEY!”Derek snapped back to reality, focussing on the strong and steady heartbeat in front of him. Looking up into familiar eyes, he felt his panic start to lessen. He was here, with Stiles, and they weren’t dead yet. One step at a time.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 14
Kudos: 128





	1. Derek

**Author's Note:**

> See end notes for non-spoilery spoiler. Also. I’m bad at Latin.

The pounding at the door was growing in intensity, while the merciless taunts lost their clarity. If you’d have asked a week prior, Stiles never would have said that he could hear the sneer in someone’s voice without some kind of clear words behind it, but here we were. Looking around the space kitchen for whatever ingredients he could put together, the look of grim determination faltered just slightly. Taking a deep breath, he looked over at Derek who was almost too shell shocked to register what was truly happening.

“Derek. If we don’t find something for this spell, we’re going to be horrifically screwed.”

Moving, Stiles got into his face, clapping his hands an inch from the tip of his nose.

“HEY!”

Derek snapped back to reality, focussing on the strong and steady heartbeat in front of him. Looking up into familiar eyes, he felt his panic start to lessen. He was here, with Stiles, and they weren’t dead yet. One step at a time.

“Upstairs, in the chest at the end of the bed, under the weapons.”

Nodding his head, Derek watched Stiles’ retreating back, thinking just for a moment how lucky he was that he wasn’t facing his end alone. With Stiles here, he had a shot. They had a shot. Getting to his feet, Derek opened one of the curtains, biting back his instinct to snarl at the Hunters who had, for the second time in his life, surrounded his home with mountain ash and set it ablaze. 

This time, he had his Emissary with him, Stiles had been able to slow the fire, but that wouldn’t stop it, and unless they found a way to get out of here, they were screwed. There were even Hunters in the escape tunnels. Tunnels he himself had installed and left out of the blueprints. They still managed to find them though. The Hunters likely had a witch working with them. Chris had called to give them the heads up that zealots were coming to Beacon Hills and to be careful, but his intel was too little too late. Before the Pack had a chance to even start talking defence, they found themselves under siege. Luckily, Derek and Stiles were able to get everyone out to safety before the Hunters surrounded the place. According to the phone tracking app everyone had installed, they were on their way to Sheriff Stilinski’s place to get back up. They were safe.

His Pack would survive.

Even if he didn’t.

Hearing the telltale thump of the chest opening and having the top level removed, he breathed a small sigh of relief. A little rustling around, and the footsteps were on their way back. Stiles cleared the doorway to the kitchen, and tossed a lump of metal at Derek. 

“Find a window they aren’t watching and try to clear the circle.”

“There’s too many Hunters and not enough bullets.”

Stiles shook his head.

“Not the Hunters. The circle. Shoot at the mountain ash, the ground around it, anything.”

Derek felt a confused look cross his face.

Stiles growled in frustration.

“You’ve never considered using a thing you can throw or shoot to clear a circle of mountain ash? Once it leaves the practitioners hands, even if it’s a solid line...it still is just dust. One well placed bullet and poof. Gone. Bonus if you can find somewhere they won’t notice, because if they know the line is breached they’ll charge in.”

Smiling at that information, Derek once again felt a jolt of happiness for accepting Stiles’ offer to be his pack Emissary now that Deaton was retired and living in Tahiti. That kind of unconventional thinking was what was sorely needed in this day and age. Sparing a moment, he pulled Stiles into a toe curling kiss and rested his forehead against the other man’s.

“I love you Stiles.”

“Love you too Sourwolf.”

Snapping playfully, Derek ran up the back steps, as the front stairs were slowly starting to be consumed. The time flux that Stiles had cast was still working but the fire was still growing. Nothing he couldn’t let the insurance company deal with when this was all over and done with.

Finding a dark corner of the lookout tower/library at the top of the house where no moonlight was presently coming in, Derek slipped through the shadows and found that there was a space near the garage that had a line of mountain ash and no Hunters. It would be a terrible place to retreat through given the Hunters on either side, but for what he needed it was almost perfect.

Opening the window just slightly, he took his time to line up the sight. It didn’t have to be perfect, just in the ballpark. Looking to the trees, he took his first shot, hoping to distract them by making them think help was on it’s way. Very quickly, he took his second shot, and felt immediately that the barrier had been breached. Tucking the gun in the back of his jeans, he bolted down the stairs, just in time to hear the library get shot to shit.

Rounding the corner and making his way to the kitchen, he saw Stiles slumped over the counter, shaking hands arranging the dried herbs and ground minerals in a familiar pattern. Stopping short, something smelled wrong. Blood. Blood and gunpowder. 

Stiles turned and looked at Derek, face white as snow, one arm hanging uselessly at his side, mouthing something in panic. The wound wasn’t fatal, Derek knew that consciously. He knew it. Stray bullet perhaps? So what was Stiles panicking about...besides the obvious. 

The cacophony of weapons discharge happening all around them but not getting much further than the reinforced walls muted his hearing a bit. Stepping into the kitchen, he finally heard what all but screaming at him.

“RUN!”

As Derek entered the kitchen fully, he felt the cold metal of a gun pressed against his ribs. He hadn’t heard the extra heartbeat in the kitchen. Feeling a strange sense of calm fill him, he resisted the urge to look away from Stiles, looking him square in the eyes with a sad smile.

“I love you Stiles.”

Feeling himself thrown to the side as the stinging punch of a bullet entering his body at close range registered, he didn’t break eye contact with his beloved. If he were going to die here, let Stiles’ eyes be the last thing he saw. Let love be on his lips.

Landing, he saw his assailant turn the gun towards Stiles, who looked up at the attacker, and a cold look of hatred and anger replaced the one of devastation and loss. A fighter to the end. Derek would tell Stiles he was so proud, if he could only take a breath.

“You...lose...”

He’d only heard the venom in Stiles’ voice like that once, when the Nogitsune had taken him over, and he was mocking his friends.

Stiles slammed his bloodied hand in the center of the triskele he’d drawn with herbs and minerals. Momentarily going blind at the light, he felt the fire speed up and move towards where they stood.

“Retrorsum!”

As the no longer restrained fire slipped into the kitchen, his eyes closed, and he no longer worried about what was happening, succumbing to the black.


	2. Stiles

“Derek. If we don’t find something for this spell, we’re going to be horrifically screwed.”

Moving, Stiles got into his face, clapping his hands an inch from the tip of his nose.

“HEY!”

Derek snapped back to reality, focussing on the strong and steady heartbeat in front of him. Looking up into familiar eyes, he felt his panic start to lessen. He was here, with Stiles, and they weren’t dead yet. One step at a time.

Wait. 

Why wasn’t he dead?

“Upstairs in the weapons chest at the foot of the bed. Under the fake shelf. Grab the gun too. I have an idea.”

Stiles pressed a kiss to his forehead and ran upstairs. 

Pushing himself off the floor, he moved into the kitchen with purpose, looking around. The fire was still suspended at the wall of the front stairwell. The doors were all in tact. He wasn’t bleeding from a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. Only two heartbeats in the house. Counting down from five, as though on cue, Stiles came in the room and handed the gun over with a questioning look on his face.

“I’m going to try and find a vantage point where I can shoot out the mountain ash circle. Stay low, because once they realize what I did, hell is going to rain down on us.”

Allowing himself a spare moment to indulge the fiery kiss that Stiles pressed to his lips, forgetting for a moment what was surrounding them, Derek felt himself smile.

“What was that for?” 

Stiles just smiled broadly.

“I love how we’re on the same page all the time. Watch yourself Der. Stay out of sight.”

Giving Stiles one last kiss, he nodded, making his way to the back stairway that had yet to start smouldering. Time flux appeared to still be up and running.

Wasting no time, Derek proceeded to the exact location he’d shot from last time. Relieved to see that there wasn’t a Hunter that had suddenly moved there, he eyed the tree line. Looking at the gun in his hand, he shook his head free of the impulse to try and distract the Hunters by shooting towards the trees. 

Taking careful aim at the line of mountain ash that surrounded the house, he pulled the trigger once, feeling a shiver the moment the barrier had dropped. This time, he didn’t stay back to see what happened. Bounding down the stairs rather than taking them slowly, he’d was near to the kitchen by the time the gunfire had started. He was, at least this time, close enough to hear where the other heartbeat was coming from. 

Not slowing his momentum in the least, as he crossed the threshold, and before Stiles could even register what was happening, Derek reached out beside the door and grabbed the masked assailant by the neck, giving it just the slightest squeeze in the right way to break their neck before they could even react.

Stiles looked up to see the body drop, his scent peaking in embarrassment as well as a touch of fear.

“Thanks for the save. Is the barrier down?”

“Sure is. Maybe next time you cast a proximity spell too?”

“Good thinking.”

Derek crouched down as the bullets started flying through the windows, the reinforced walls doing what they were supposed to do. Looking at the triskele that Stiles had drawn on the floor with the herbs and minerals, he raised an eyebrow in obvious questioning.

“It’s a time spell. In case things go horribly horribly wrong. It’s kind of like a cosmic mulligan.”

“I didn’t know you golf.”

Shaking his head.

“I don’t. Mom did. Anyway. I’m not even sure if it works. Can’t really test it out, you know? In theory it should invoke and rewind things a bit to fix the major fuck ups. Not exactly a kosher spell for a Druid but...I won’t tell if you won’t.”

Derek nodded but bit his tongue. Obviously Stiles didn’t remember doing this before, or invoking it with a bloody hand as Derek lay on the ground bleeding out. He’d have to ask about that part. After they got out of this.

The sounds and effects of gun shots started to slow down, some of them were reloading, but it was evident they hadn’t brought a tonne of spare ammunition, likely thinking that the mountain ash and the fire would do the majority of the job, and at the very least, kill the residents of the house. 

“Can you do anything about the fire?”

Stiles shook his head sadly.

“Once I drop the spell, the fire is going to get a massive influx of oxygen and this place is going to go up that much faster. I can slow it down enough to get us out of here, but if something happens to break the spell...poof goes the house.”

Nodding his head, that made sense...in as much as magic ever made sense to him. Tuning his hearing the best he could, he could hear that people where crossing the now defunct barrier, but moving slowly and with caution.

“Can you redirect at least part of the fire at the Hunters who are approaching the house?”

“For a few seconds, yeah....oh...OH. That’s good. That’s brilliant!”

Stiles got to his feet and moved towards where the fire was slowly starting to creep into the kitchen. Mumbling under his breath, Derek watched as the powers weaved between Stiles’ fingers, power taking form from the intent behind it. Knowing better than to interrupt while Stiles was like this, he looked out the window and it felt like time had suddenly slowed down with the appearance of a flash in the dark. 

It took forever for the sound to get caught up, but once it did, the only thing Derek could concentrate on was Stiles dropping to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been severed.

Grabbing the first thing he could get his hands on, he threw it with as much force as he could muster, not even looking to see if it had the intended effect or not. 

Sliding across the floor, Derek rolled Stiles over, but by the time he got there, Stiles was already gone. Feeling anger and sadness build in his chest, he looked around, the spell on the fire was going to drop any second now. Looking around, he spotted the triskele Stiles had drawn out on the floor. Lo and behold it was still in tact. 

Gently setting Stiles down, he forced himself to move. Closing his eyes, trying to conjure the memory of the word that Stiles had used, he looked at the blood on his hand. Stiles’ blood. Praying to a god he didn’t know or believe in for this to work, he slapped his hand down into the pile.

“Retrorsum.”

In the blink of an eye, the fire was released from its captivity, and he felt the air get sucked out of his lungs. Reaching out, his hand found Stiles cheek and then...

Silence.

Blessed silence.


	3. Both...or Neither

“Derek. If we don’t find something for this spell, we’re going to be horrifically screwed.”

Moving, Stiles got into his face, clapping his hands an inch from the tip of his nose.

“HEY!”

Derek snapped back to reality, focussing on the strong and steady heartbeat in front of him. Looking up into familiar eyes, he felt his panic start to lessen. He was here, with Stiles, and they weren’t dead yet. One step at a time.

Pushing himself forward, he captured Stiles in his arms, shaking in relief, drawing in Stiles’ scent, and thanking whatever god was watching over them for this do-over.

“Grab the bag from the chest at the foot of the bed and draw your time spell. Grab the gun, and come right back down here.”

Stiles for his part kept his flailing to a minimum and just went with it. Too many years together for Stiles to question the sudden need for scent marking and reassurance. Running a hand in a soothing circle on Derek’s back, he just nodded his head and did as he was asked, filing away the question of how Derek knew about the spell.

Derek took a moment to look around the kitchen to find something to cover the windows with, being reasonably certain that if the person on the deck hadn’t been able to see in, Stiles may not have died in the last loop. Finding a can of silver spray paint from Stiles’ latest cosplay creation, Derek made quick work of painting over the windows. It’d do nearly nothing except maybe just maybe buy them a few spare seconds.

Stiles came thumping back into the room with the gun in one hand, and bag of magic supplies in the other.

“Set up a proximity spell, then do the time one. I’ll be right back. And please, Stiles, please, stay down and away from the windows.”

Not liking the slight panic in his voice, Stiles just nodded his head in agreement, being uncharacteristically silent on the matter. 

“Okay. Watch your back Der.”

Pulling the human into a toe curling kiss, Derek simply nodded his head, a silent promise to come back and do that again.

Making haste to the look out, he spared an extra moment and looked around the property. They were well surrounded, by people and mountain ash. Looking at the gun in his hand, he tucked it into the back of his jeans, and took a deep breath. Through the night air, he was able to pick apart what humans were out there, the witch who reeked of fear, and...a werewolf?

That’s how they knew to move forward and attack. When he felt the barrier drop, so did the traitor in their midst. Thinking for a moment, Derek looked to see where this beast was. Sure enough, he was in the midst of the Hunters, and from the looks of things, he was there quite willingly. The thought curdled in his brain, but he couldn’t afford to be distracted.

Popping the magazine out, he saw they were just regular bullets. Still. A bullet to the eye would stop a werewolf. Wolfsbane or not. Reloading the magazine, he looked around the room and saw what he was looking for. 

Grabbing the stress ball that had managed to find its way up here, he set it down on the window sill. Going to the other window, he carefully lined up the shot, pulling the trigger once. The werewolf flinched, falling forward, though due to the mountain ash that was still intact, its body lay on the invisible barrier in a grotesque mockery of physiology. Ducking down, he heard the gunshots starting in his direction, but as far as they knew, the mountain ash was intact, so they were content to not move. Risking taking a look, Derek saw them pull the were’s body off the barrier and tossed it aside like so much refuse. 

Taking the stress ball, he carefully aimed where he had shot in his previous attempts in the other time loops, and smiled when he felt the barrier drop.

Making his way downstairs, he saw Stiles crouching by the kitchen island, a Hunter’s dead body laying in the corner of the room with one of Stiles’ ceremonial daggers jammed to the hilt in the man’s eye socket. Crawling forward, he reached out and gave Stiles’ hand a squeeze.

“Good work. You ready to get out of here?”

Stiles nodded his head, casting a look at the fire, then to Derek.

“I’ve got an idea.”

Derek nodded his head in encouragement.

“Keep your head down Stiles.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not standing up.”

Derek breathed a sigh of relief. Stiles for his part pulled out a pouch of what looked like dried chilli powder. Shaking it out in a rough approximation of how the fire was consuming the house in slow motion, Stiles struck a few lines through it, mumbling in a language that Derek couldn’t identify. The powder glowed blue then turned black.

“Let’s go.”

Derek dragged Stiles to the door to the basement, scent trail telling him this is how the now dead Hunter got in the house. Listening carefully, he didn’t hear any heartbeats that weren’t supposed to be there. Pulling Stiles through the tunnels towards the smell of fresh air, he stopped when Stiles tugged his arm.

“Okay. This is far enough.”

Stiles looked back towards the house, and whispered under his breath.

“Prohibere.”

Hearing a distant whooshing sound, followed by screaming, and weapons fire, Derek stood stock still holding his breath, waiting for the inevitable that never came.

“What did you do?”

“I cast a spell to direct the fire for a few moments, and then stopped the inhibiting spell and from the sounds of things, took out most of the Hunters. And with the house now completely engulfed and them thinking that their man in the tunnels is still in the tunnels to take us out...”

“They should leave us be.”

“Exactly.”

Smiling in the low light, Derek’s eyes flashed red as he pulled Stiles closer to his body, plundering his mouth and just letting his hands wander.

“You know...you’re going to have to tell me how you knew about that time spell. I only sorted out the details on it this morning.”

Nodding his head, hands slipping down the back of Stiles’ pants, he grinned.

“Later.”

Stiles suppressed a moan.

“Much much later.”


	4. When Before Happens After

Waking from a fitful dream, Derek’s side of the bed was soaked in sweat. Breathing deeply, he didn’t smell the comforting smell of Stiles beside him. He didn’t smell Stiles anywhere in his bedroom at all. No laundry. No magic supplies. No smell of sex. Feeling around, as his eyes adjusted to the low light, he looked around seeing the walls of the loft.

Sinking back in bed, he felt the vestiges of the dream settle in his mind. Unlike so many others, this one sat like a memory he’d yet to have. Blinking up at the ceiling, he checked his phone for the date, both happy and sad to find that it was some years earlier than what he remembered in the dream. Looking at the text messages, the last one he received was from Stiles stating that he’d be back from college for a few weeks, arriving sometime in the morning.

Taking a few deep breaths, he let himself calm down, listening to the silence in the loft and the lack of other heartbeats. 

Slipping out of bed, feeling the cool air on his over heated and unclad body, he padded quietly to the kitchen for a glass of water. 

Counting his fingers, he was happy to see he only had ten, and that he was able to read the letter of acceptance to the police academy as well as the job offer from Sheriff Stilinski for when he graduated.

Turning slightly at the sound of his door being thrown open, and a frantic heartbeat filling the silence. Before he could truly and properly react, he found himself with an arm full of Stiles who absolutely reeked of stress and fear. 

Stiles pulled back and looked at Derek’s face.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah I...just couldn’t sleep. You’re early.”

Stiles nodded his head frantically, looking around as though he was expecting to be attacked. 

“Just...got this cold feeling in my gut that something was wrong so I left early and came straight here.”

Derek smiled a small smile and nodded.

“And your first thought was to come here.”

Stiles nodded.

“Well obviously yes. If anyone besides me is going to be in danger, it’s going to be you.”

Derek would have loved to have argued the point. But couldn’t. At all.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

Derek’s tone was nothing but warmth and sincerity. 

“I’m just glad you’re okay. One of these days, someone’s going to have to invent some kind of spell for do-overs. Because a time will come that we aren’t fast enough to save each other.”

Derek merely nodded his head.

“If anyone can do it I bet it’ll be you Stiles.”

Stiles blushed a little at the praise.

“Derek.”

“Yes Stiles.”

“Why are you naked?”

“I was trying to sleep. Stiles?”

Stiles was looking anywhere but down.”

“Yes Derek.”

“Why aren’t you?”

A scent of arousal and confusion filled the suddenly close space. Stiles brow quirked in such a way that it would give Derek’s a run for it’s money. 

Derek closed the gap between them, and tentatively wrapped his arms around Stiles, who readily returned the gesture. With a quite question and an affirmative response, Derek drew Stiles in for a slow and deep kiss. After some time, with their heads spinning, they pulled apart with a smile.

“That’s one hell of a first kiss Derek. What...not that I’m complaining...but what brought that on?”

Derek shrugged his shoulders, and with a small smile, simply said.

“No time like the present.”

**Author's Note:**

> Go easy on me, this was conceived and written in one day between appointments and mostly on my phone. Please kudos and comment. I hope you like it and understand why I didn’t tag much. Major Character Death...but they get better.


End file.
